Tag: art

Found at Cope Coast Castle in Ghana, artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo creates stunningly provoking sculptures that provoke the viewer to understand the reality of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade in the exhibit In Memoriam: Portraits of the Middle Passage, In Situ.

I have always avoided drawing people, well, in particular; their eyes, lips…noses… basically the whole entire face. And unfortunately this week was all about portraits in my drawing course. I was completely terrified, but after my professor explained some simple rules of drawing faces, I was eager to try.

Portrait Practice – Charcoal on 18X24″ Newsprint

She eased us into it by putting dramatic lighting on our live models so they would be easier to draw. I kept starting over so I wasn’t able to complete a full portrait but every time I restarted I learned something new about drawing faces so i don’t regret it.

First progress shot

Second progress shot

Charcoal on 12×18″ Newsprint

That night I went home and practiced on an image I found online… I was completely amazed by my progress in one day.

I finally pulled the trigger on something I’ve always wanted to do while I am still enrolled at Parsons, School of Design… I finally took a drawing course. At first, it was very intimidating but luckily the majority of people in my class are also just beginners or hobbyist and not fine arts majors.

I had a particularly interesting lesson that I wanted to share with all of you on figure and movement. We had a nude model, charcoal and 18×24 newsprint and were told to draw what we saw. So this is the result of my first go at it.

Nude Figure Attempt One

After the exercise we had our lecture on how to convey movement and energy, what does that mean? Using the inner line and cross contour versus outlining the body. This was my second attempt.

A lot of design teachers would show students examples of graphic designers and photographers however none of the artists really stood out to me like Maggie Taylor.

Her artwork is so unique, she creates such a fascinating narrative with her surrealist mashups – even her technique is uncommon. By scanning her objects using an open flatbed scanner in a dark room* (pitch-black room to process photos) she creates depth in her photos.